Commission's stance on Otero Mesa poisons process

At a public meeting at the courthouse on May 20, 2010, the Otero County Commission went on record as opposing national monument status for Otero Mesa.

I feel the best way to protect Otero Mesa from being irreversibly polluted by oil, gas and mining development is by sitting down with officials from the Interior Department, BLM, etc., and working with them on legislation that both protects Otero Mesa as a BLM managed national monument; protects existing rights of area ranchers, hunters, etc.; protects the quality of the water under Otero Mesa; and guarantees future rights of communities to responsibly and sustainably develop the water resource.

If there is a better way to accomplish the above things short of making Otero Mesa a BLM managed national monument, I may change my position and not support that action.

Bringing officials like Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to Alamogordo to educate us about other possibilities and hear our concerns could be very constructive. Right now, I am greatly encouraged that one of the country's leading environmental organizations -- the National Wildlife Federation, made up predominately of hunters and sportsmen, not tree huggers -- is working to make that happen.

I believe the group's New Mexico affiliate will be on our side with regard to respecting what we want for Otero Mesa, as long as they also get what they want: protecting Otero Mesa from oil, gas and mining development, and keeping it open for hunting.

I urged the Otero County Commission to remove the word "opposing" from the title of its ordinance and substitute "regarding.

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" I believe a position opposing BLM national monument status is premature until we get the full story.

I continue to believe that gathering information and dialogue with the federal government powers is the best way to get what we want. I was very disappointed with the way that night's meeting ended. One of the commissioners announced that the commission neither supported nor opposed the creation of a national monument on Otero Mesa.

From the audience, I asked why the word "opposing" was in the title of the ordinance? Besides putting me down for interrupting him, he did not answer my question. The commission went on to adopt the ordinance by a 3-0 vote.

Hopefully, this action will not sufficiently poison the prospects for a real dialogue among Otero County citizens, federal officials and environmental organizations that ultimately results in what we want: a guarantee that existing rights of area ranchers, hunters and other stakeholders will be preserved in a way that doesn't compromise the beauty and integrity of the natural environment on Otero Mesa.

Editor's note: This is the last of a three-part commentary concerning the author's participation and evaluation of the Otero County Commission's Ordinance 10-05 concerning Otero Mesa. Stephen Cook is a Weed resident, astronomer and global education pioneer who has 20 years' experience teaching and designing laboratory exercises for physics classes at the high school and college levels. In his spare time, he serves as a volunteer firefighter in Weed and the creator of the award-winning website projectworldview.org. This article was submitted by Otero County for Otero Mesa. For more information, email oteromesa@aol.com.